A temporary policy from the NCAA went into effect on July 1, 2021, giving the opportunity for NCAA college athletes to get paid for their name, image and likeness. 

“With all the time and dedication on top of school work, it’s like another job, which is why I think it’s great that myself and other college athletes have the opportunity to make money off of our hard work,” said University of Rochester softball player and Amador alum Allyson Kim.

The supreme court case, NCAA vs. Alston was unanimously in favor of Alston, which advocated against college athlete pay. This stopped the NCAA from denying collegiate athletes benefits that are connected to education. This heavily influenced the NCAA to allow all NCAA athletes to get paid.

“I think where a lot of people are going to make some money is through social media and influencing. If [college athletes] have their own youtube channels, they haven’t been able to collect money from that before, and now they can. Being able to monetize that is being able to get paid for the business they’re already running,” said Cross Country and Track and Field Coach Jason Oswalt.

College athletes can earn money through a variety of opportunities, such as endorsement deals and starting camps with their names, but they need to follow state NIL laws. A number of states have already passed NIL laws to allow the pay of collegiate athletes. Many student athletes are just excited to have the chance of making money off of their sports.

“It’s exciting. Once my play on the course speaks for itself, I’ll get the opportunities when they come, and then I’ll take it one at a time,” said Stanford Golf commit Kush Arora (‘23).

With money now involved with college sports, it does raise the question of competitiveness for many schools and big sports.

“If [the Alabama QB getting $1 million] went to a different school that wasn’t as well known, his talent didn’t change, but his opportunity did. His chance to make money off of his name, image, likeness is not going to be the same,” said  Oswalt.